I have a video card whose original heatsink is attached to the core with thermal epoxy (Creative brand vid card). Would soaking the card in isopropyl alcohol for a few days accomplish anything, or might that damage the card? I do of course know that running the card while it's still wet will cause many transistors to die early deaths; I just want to know if the soaking itself could damage any components.

December 21st, 2000, 10:07 PM

KilrB

I twisted the heatsink off and then used finger nail polish remover to get the Frag tape off my VooDoo3 3000. IT worked really well. Might take off the epoxy just as well.

I've seen acouple pics of guys taking a flat blade screwdriver and placing a piece of plastic(like a credit card) between the card and the screwdriver to pry off the heatsink.

I'm just a bit wary of trying to pry the heatsink off; the epoxy is fairly firm, and is covering the entire GF2 core. Twisting or prying may either break the PCB, or possibly pop the Geforce2 chip right off the board.

December 21st, 2000, 11:07 PM

mx-6*

I think that the best bet is to heat it up real good by playing games with the fan on the chip off. Then shut down the computer real fast and try to pull it off.

Make sure to ground yourself though.

Anyway, it worked everytime I have done it and I actually have a tnt2 card that the hs fell off on its own after I put a fan on it!!

December 22nd, 2000, 01:37 AM

Deanril

Well Ive done this actually on my GeForce DDR from Creative Labs........

Stick the sucker in the Freezer for 30-60 minutes,then pull out and try to twist a bit,I actually had to use a small flathead screwdriver.

But if you look closely,there is a couple of good pry points where you wont mess anything up.

Then pop goes the wheesle and you are looking at a core.

Finger nail polish to clean it up then figure a way to atatch the new HSF.

I used thermal tape worked Dandy,but If I had it to do all over again,I might have just superglued it.

So far, heating it to very hot (maybe 150F - very painful to touch the HS) and then trying to pry or twist it off - no luck. The thing won't even budge. It's sitting in the freezer now; hopefully that will help a bit.

While the card was still cold from a stay in the freezer, I put a small screwdriver through the hole that you can see on the bottom right of the pic, and tapped it with a hammer. Heatsink popped right off. I just hope nothing got damaged. Phew! http://www.jeff7.com/images/phew.gif